ONLY CURRENT SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE NATION TO EARN THIS DESIGNATION

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate was designated as a Certified Elections/Registration Administrator (CERA), the highest professional achievement in the nation for an election official. The certification ceremonies were conducted by The Election Center and took place in New Orleans on Tuesday. Pate is the only current Secretary of State in the United States to complete the certification process. Read More

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) — Secretary of State Paul Pate announced Iowans created 23,649 new business filings during the 2018 Fiscal Year running from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.

That number is a new record. This is the third year in a row Iowans have set a new record for business filings. There were 21,665 businesses created in the 2017 Fiscal Year and 20,300 in the 2016 Fiscal Year.

“This is terrific news for Iowa and the state of our economy,” Secretary Pate said.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KWQC) — Secretary of State Paul Pate announced today that Iowa became the 25th state to join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC). Participation in ERIC will help Iowa election officials improve the accuracy of the voter rolls, register more eligible citizens, reduce costs, and improve efficiencies in the voting process.

There are approximately 300,000 Iowans who will receive a mailing from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, encouraging them to register to vote. The $60,000 estimated cost will be paid through a grant from the Pew Research Center.

Participation with ERIC will allow Iowa to collaborate with other states to identify voters who moved inside and outside the state, recently deceased voters, and duplicate registrations.

DES MOINES – More than 250,000 Iowans have registered to vote since the beginning of 2015, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.

Secretary Paul Pate’s office says the all-time high for active registered voters was broken in January 2017 at 2,045,864.

“It has never been easier to register to vote in Iowa,” Secretary Pate said. “The simplest way to register is online. Since my office instituted online voter registration in 2016, almost 90,000 Iowans have registered to vote or updated their voter registration through that system. I encourage every eligible Iowan to register to vote and to be a voter.”

CEDAR RAPIDS — Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is in line to become president of the National Association of Secretaries of State next year after he was unanimously named president-elect at the group’s summer conference in Philadelphia.

Pate said he was honored by the appointment because he shares the group’s goal “to conduct clean and fair elections, and to offer service at the speed of business, not the speed of government.”

Additionally, Pate’s office received the Election Center’s 2018 Professional Practice State Award for its training materials for poll workers. The award was presented during the National Association of State Election Directors’ summer conference in Philadelphia.

The unaccountable liberal media is circulating fake news about me in an attempt to discredit my integrity and hurt my re-election.

Yesterday, a biased “reporter” from the Associated Press ran an article accusing me of falsifying my annual statement to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board. The allegation is a big, fat lie, and anyone who can read can see that I accurately recorded my filing!

I’ve taken cheap political hits before, but this is a new low. Unfortunately, it has become the new normal for Republicans like me who are under attack by Democrats whose only hope for victory in November is through the spread of bold-faced lies.

I need your help. Specifically, I need you to contribute $5, $10, $25, or whatever you can afford to my campaign so I can continue to combat this story and the list of lies out-of-state liberal special interests are inevitably going to spread about me during my run for re-election.

It’s an unfortunate state Democrats have dragged politics into, but it’s something to which we Republicans must adapt. Please consider giving generously as I now need to expend additional campaign resources to squelch this liberal fake news.

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate officially filed his nomination papers for the 2018 election on Wednesday. Pate’s petitions included signatures from Iowans in all 99 counties, signifying his campaign has already built a strong, statewide grassroots network.

“It has been a huge honor to serve as Iowa’s Secretary of State and the voters in all 99 counties have indicated they support what we have accomplished the past three years,” Secretary Pate said. “Iowans indicated they wanted voter ID when they elected me in 2014. Every poll shows strong support for voter ID, and I worked hard to deliver on that campaign promise, while also working to modernize Iowa’s election technology. Election integrity means more than checking ID’s at the polls. It means ensuring clean and fair elections across Iowa and that’s where I will keep my focus.”

Pate’s accomplishments during his current tenure include national recognition for his Iowa Youth Straw Poll and the “Helping Veterans and Iowans with Disabilities Vote” initiative. Pate instituted online voter registration in Iowa in 2016, and his innovations resulted in the highest voter registration total in state history.

“I will continue to work every day to serve the people of Iowa,” Pate said. “Whether it’s the Safe at Home program, the College Voter Engagement Summit, or instituting Fast Track Filing, my team is dedicated to the business community and the people of Iowa. We will strive every day to make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat, and offering service at the speed of business, not the speed of government.”

Paul Pate has dedicated his life to public service. He is a former State Senator, Mayor of Cedar Rapids, and President of the Iowa League of Cities. Pate is currently the Treasurer for the National Association of Secretaries of State. Paul was born and raised in Iowa. He and his wife Jane are parents of three and grandparents of five.

DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate announced his plans to run for reelection during speeches at Republican county conventions on Saturday. Pate is currently serving his second term as Secretary of State. The office oversees elections and functions as a service center for Iowa businesses. Pate announced his reelection bid at the Polk County Republican Convention in West Des Moines, and followed that with visits to the Johnson County and Scott County GOP conventions.

“I returned to the Secretary of State’s Office in 2015 with a plan to make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat in Iowa. We have accomplished that goal, but our work is not done,” Secretary Pate said.

Pate has followed through on his campaign promises from 2014, which included:

Instituting Voter ID in Iowa

Making it easier to vote, with innovations such as online voter registration

Creating an address confidentiality program for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault

Expanding opportunities for overseas military members to cast their ballots

“One of the first things we worked on was creating Safe at Home, an address confidentiality program for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and stalking,” Secretary Pate said. “Now, hundreds of Iowans are safer and able to lead a more normal life thanks to this program. Many have been able to vote for the first time in several years.”

More than 70,000 Iowans utilized Iowa’s new online voter registration system when it launched in 2016. The online method, instituted by Secretary Pate and the Iowa Department of Transportation, makes registering to vote easier and more accessible than at any point in Iowa history.

“It’s important that those defending our freedoms overseas are easily able to cast their ballots back home, and we were able to extend the time to request special submarine absentee ballots to 120 days,” Secretary Pate said. “They have our back over there, so we need to make sure we’ve got their back when it comes to voting.”

Pate is also moving forward with improvements to the Secretary of State’s Business Services Division by instituting a Fast Track Filing system for new businesses. That is expected to launch in May.

“We want to offer service at the speed of business, not the speed of government. We’re getting closer, but we’re not done yet,” Secretary Pate said.

Iowa has achieved its highest active voter registration total in state history during Secretary Pate’s current tenure. The state is among the top six in the nation for both voter registration and voter participation. However, Secretary Pate pledges to not rest on those laurels, and will continue to work to help every Iowan be a voter.

“Iowa is the greatest state in the country and I’ve been proud to call it my home since I was born,” Pate said. “My parents instilled in me the importance of public service when I was very young, and I’ve lived my life trying to meet and surpass their high standards of hard work, integrity, and giving back to the community.”

Paul Pate is a nationally recognized small business leader and a dedicated public servant. He is a former State Senator, Mayor of Cedar Rapids, President of the Iowa League of Cities and a Lieutenant and former Squadron Commander in the Iowa Civil Air Patrol. Pate currently serves as the Treasurer for the National Association of Secretaries of State. Paul Pate and his wife Jane have three children and five grandchildren. They reside in Linn County.

Paul Pate, a nationally recognized small business leader, is serving his second term as Iowa's Secretary of State. Pate followed through on his 2014 campaign promises by making it easier for overseas military members to vote, instituting online voter registration, implementing a Safe at Home program for survivors of violence, and bringing Voter ID to Iowa. Pate has succeeded in making it easy to vote, but hard to cheat.